As one of data codes, a barcode exists. The barcode denoting the inherent commodity code of a commodity is generally attached to the sales commodity in a supermarket. A commodity recognition apparatus reading the commodity code of the commodity by using a scanner to scan the barcode attached to the commodity is widely popularized. A commodity recognition apparatus reading the commodity code of the commodity by recognizing the barcode attached to the commodity from the image of the commodity captured by an image capturing unit such as a CCD camera is also developed. The commodity code read out by these commodity recognition apparatuses is output to a POS (Point Of Sales) terminal, so as to be provided for commodity (article) sales data processing.
However, not all commodities are always attached barcodes. For example, loose vegetables, loose fruits and loose delicatessens are often without barcode attached. Therefore, in order to cope with such a commodity without barcode attached, a display device is generally set as a touch panel for the former commodity recognition apparatus. Moreover, the screen of the touch panel displays the image of the commodity without barcode attached, and if the commodity is selected from the touch input of an operator, the commodity code of the selected commodity is output from the commodity recognition apparatus to the POS terminal.